“If Catfish tried to go metal, it would very likely fall short of the true story and infernal comedy of Witch Taint: The Black Metal Dialogues LIVE!”
-The Comedy Bureau

In 2004, comedian Dave Hill, a grown man living in New York City, began posing as Lance, a teenager living with his parents in Gary, Indiana, who also just so happened to be the lead singer and sole member of the most extreme, brutal, and Satanic black metal band of all-time, WitchTaint. As Lance, Dave began emailing with a Norwegian black metal record label owner in Oslo named Saitham in hopes of getting signed to the label on the strength of one excruciatingly bad song called “Necrodreamraper.” Their lengthy e-mail conversation, now known among the faithful as the Black Metal Dialogues (www.theblackmetaldialogues.com), quickly became the stuff of legend and is considered by many to be the most infernal, extreme, and downright unholy electronic mail correspondence of all-time.

In “Witch Taint: The Black Metal Dialogues Live!”, this infernal and 100% real email chain is brought life by comedians Dave Hill and Phil Costello, complete with corpse paint, ill-fitting black clothing, disturbing videos, and- if all goes as planned- a live and mildly irritated goat, culminating in a live performance by the mighty Witch Taint that will probably scar you for life. This promises to be the most extreme and kvlt thing that has ever happened ever. If you think you can handle it, please come. However, in the event that you have a preexisting health condition that is aggravated by things that are evil, extreme, infernal, brutal, kvlt, unholy, and/or just sort of negative in general, you will most likely be sent screaming into the night until you eventually grow tired and collapse in a ditch somewhere.

Dave Hill is a comedian, writer, and musician originally from Cleveland but now living in New York City. He has appeared on Inside Amy Schumer, @midnight, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, and The Jim Gaffigan Show among other programs, and is a regular host on HBO and Cinemax. Dave has starred in his own TV series, The King of Miami, on the MOJO Network, which was cancelled even though Dave really liked it. He has written for The New York Times, The Paris Review, Salon, GQ, McSweeney’s, The New York Observer, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, and Guitar World, among other publications. He is a regular contributor to public radio’s This American Life and hosts his own radio show, The Goddamn Dave Hill Show, on WFMU in Jersey City, New Jersey. Dave performs live comedy in theaters and basements all over the world and even opened for Snoop Dogg once, which was awesome. He also plays guitar and sings in his own rock band, Valley Lodge, whose song “Go” is the theme song for HBO’sLast Week Tonight with John Oliver. Dave has written two books, Dave Hill Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (2016 Blue Rider Press and Tasteful Nudes:...and Other Misguided Attempts at Personal Growth and Validation (2012 St. Martin’s Press). He also smells really great and has made out with a lot of chicks and you can ask anyone.

Phil Costello

Member of Valley Lodge, Phil Costello (Satanicide, Tragedy (11)). “Phil” is also from the hit television program “The King of Miami”), Tomato (Sound of Urchin, T.H.O.R.). With Dave Hill (3) and Moby they have formed Diamondsnake, an unstoppable band that defies categorization, melding elements of rock, hard rock, metal, and heavy metal into something no one has ever heard before ever.

Greg Barris is a staple in New York’s downtown stand-up scene and is the creator of Heart Of Darkness: a psychedelic showcase of comedy, live music and fringe scientists that has been a frequent Time Out New York critic’s pick, much loved by BrooklynVegan and hailed as ‘Excellent’ by The New Yorker. Comedians who have appeared on Heart of Darkness include Reggie Watts, Fred Armisen, Janeane Garofalo and Jim Gaffigan.

In Fall 2012, Barris announced the release of his debut comedy album SHAME WAVE. Recorded in the spring in NYC, SHAME WAVE features Barris, whom PAPER describes as “the perfect combination of very good looking, hilarious and super-weird,” at his charasmatic best. aspecialthing Records will release SHAME WAVE on October 9th.

In addition to curating and performing every sold out Heart of Darkness live show, Barris’ boundless talent and energy is also showcased on his pop fantasy comedy album as the Wigmaker’s Son. Wigmaker’s Son ‘Greatest Tits’ lp is the wholly original Zappa-meets-Lonely-Island creation from Barris and guitarist / visual artist Dima Drjuchin (Corrupt Autopilot) who leads The Forgiveness band at every Heart of Darkness show. The album, out Spring 2012 and featuring songs from Heart of Darkness, takes listeners on a magic carpet ride through time waves, anoints Tom Selleck as a baby saving mustachioed saint, makes things better, puts the reptilian army on notice and forgives all your sins.

The well-rounded Barris’ comedic shorts have been featured on Funny or Die, College Humor and Jay Leno’s Laugh Squad to name a few. He has been a commentator on MTV's All That Rocks and MTV's Warren The Ape.

“Greg Barris is the kind of man who believes the Universe tilts toward Justice AND that a quote from me means something. What a dear sweet fool.” – Janeane Garofalo

“Greg Barris takes his audiences to places they’ve never been before, inside the heart of a man who cares so much, you can taste his pain. Then he turns you around and covers you with his joy, just like in one of those sex movies, only its standup comedy.” – Rory Scovel

“Greg Barris strong and make people happy with charm powers. He good friend and tell good jokes. One time he help me kill hunger with pizza. His comedy best because him say stories that mostly true. Him like girls as much as I do and that make for fun talks. Because of Greg New York and LA is better place.” -Reggie Watts